Welcome back everyone. Hope everyone watched the game with the Rays playing for the World Series on the other channel. If you didn’t, I will briefly tell you what happened. We won, we won, and lastly, we won 20-10. We held the Seattle Seahawk offense to 176 total yards, jumped out to an early lead, and just maintained the game the rest of the way. Jeff Garcia completed 27 out of 36 passes for 310 yards and 1 touchdown. WR Antonio Bryant, who has played extremely well in Joey Galloway’s absence, caught 6 passes for 115 yards and a TD.

We did take a couple of blows though. “3rd and Ike” Ike Hilliard was drilled by Seahawks FS Leroy Hill, and was knocked unconscious for a few moments. He wants to play and says he is fine, but head injuries have to be treated very carefully. G Aaron Sears was injured and likely to be out a couple of weeks. Warrick Dunn was also added to the injury list as he left the game in the 3rd quarter with a back injury. He is a game time decision for Sunday’s game versus the 4-3 Cowboys.

This weeks game is going to be a tough one. The Dallas Cowboys were picked by many to win the Super Bowl this year, but of late, have not been playing up to their expectations. They have lost 3 straight and are looking to turn their season around. They will be doing so with former Buccaneers QB Brad Johnson, due to Tony Romo’s broken finger. Last week, Johnson did not perform well as he threw 3 interceptions in a 34-10 loss to the St. Louis Rams. We all know Brad Johnson well, but so does our defense. I am looking for our defense to step up and have a defining outing on Sunday. However, that will be a very tall task.

The Cowboys may be without their starting QB, but they do have weapons. Marion Barber is a bull and we will likely see a large dose of him. They now have, arguably, the best WR squad in the NFL with Terrell Owens, recently acquired Roy Williams, Patrick Crayton, and Austin Miles, as if that wasn’t enough, don’t forget about TE Jason Witten.  Dallas also has one of the top offensive lines in football. We will see how our D can handle them. Personally, I think we match up quite well. One thing we must do is stop the run. We haven’t allowed a rushing touchdown this season and we will look to keep that streak going this week.

We have a injured offense, but are playing a very injured Dallas defense. They have lost their top 2 cornerbacks Anthony Henry (injury) and Adam Jones (league suspension) and are relying on former USF star, Mike Jenkins as their top corner. They also lost Pro Bowl safety Roy Williams for the season. Last week they gave up 4 touchdowns to a Rams team who only had 4 touchdowns all year.

This is a good match up and if there were any week you would want to play the Cowboys, it is this week. I think we can definitely win this game and make a statement. With a good game plan revolving around the excellent play of Jeff Garcia and Earnest Graham, we can advance to 6-2. Do not miss this game. 1:00pm sharp on FOX.

See you next week,

Steve Fritch

SteveF@getinmagazine.com